Like All Orphans
by Ebony Dear
Summary: Like all orphans, the two kidnapped brats were so stupid that they didn't even look scared as Mrs. K carried them away."- Vice Principal Nero (Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography) Read and Review.
1. The Finite Forest

_"Like all orphans, the two kidnapped brats were so stupid that they didn't even look scared as Mrs. K carried them away."- _Vice Principal Nero (Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography)

**Summary: **Who were these orphans, and did they share the same fate as the Baudelaires and Quagmires? This is the story of the third group of siblings that were tied to the awful fires, the secret of V.F.D., and the Snicket File. Told in the notebook of Luna.

**-Disclaimer-**

**Don't own it, leave me alone. That goes for other chapters as well.**

We could not help but weep as we heard the terrible stories of the ones harmed before us. Mrs. K, or K as she asked us to call her, told the tale of the Quagmires as best as her research informed her. K knew that it was a matter of time before we would be hunted as well, and she said that we were lucky that we were found before the other side had set their sights on us. Of course, by 'us' she meant my brother and me. Jake sat quietly as we heard the tale from K. He listened intently without even slighty interrupting with a sneeze or a cough. It was like him to be so involved into something that another person would say. I was focused on the story, but eventually grew inspired to write the exact scene that this story took place in.

The dark night was only lit by the flashlight that K held, and it made the scene all the more daunting and miserable. We, meaning K and Jake and I, were hidden in the Finite Forest in a small tent that was tightly shut to prevent any creatures or unwanted villians- which seems redundant, because all villians are most likely unwanted except for heinous crimes- from overhearing our discussion. K continued on to the case of the Baudelaires, and their unfortunate tale was even worse than the poor Quagmires. Jake's dark brown eyes stared at K's saddened face as she told the tale of her brother, Jacques, who was killed at the hands of Count Olaf. It was almost too much for me to handle as I heard about even more crimes that this Olaf had committed just for an enormous fortune. K eventually stopped, and she looked as if a great weight had been lifted. It seems that all her information, though valuable, tore into her heart and caused her life to become miserable. Though, it was not the facts that she had gathered, but who was after her and her family because of them. She left us with these troubling thoughts as she tossed and turned in her own sleeping bag before giving in to exhaustion.

As I am writing this in my red notebook, I hear the cold wind blowing past the trees of the forest and pressing against our small sanctuary that we had posted up hours before. There is very little light, as dawn is beginning to approach, and I have been sleepless again for the third night in a row. My brother, one year my senior, has been sleeping like a baby since our escape from Prufrock Prepatory. He absolutely hated it there, and most of the time he spent there was filled with sleepless nights of the haunting concertos embedded in his brain. I was happy he was at least beginning to get some rest again. My name is Luna, and I am hoping for the world to be quiet again. Though V.F.D. is primarily secret, I will try my best to keep records of what happens throughout this endeavor as one of the newest members. An introduction to who this involves would probably suffice as I am very limited in time of what I am able to complete. K does not know about my notebook, and I do not think it wise that she find out about it.

First of all, let me introduce my brother. Jake, like a said before, is one year older. I believe he took it the worst when the fire killed our parents. Though, under such dismal and horribly shattering moments such as those, one cannot be completely fine. He is a few years older than Violet Baudelaire, who we are now indirectly tied to through this organization. He was considered to be more of a nerd, in appearance and in spirit. He was an incredible listener. Jake could remember anything told to him by merely listening to a person. I always thought of him as a spy, and a very good one at that. I had given him a yellow notebook recently, and told him to keep it safe from anyone's eyes, save for himself and me. I doubt he has written in it, however, as our journey has really only just begun. As I look at him in his sleeping bag, his reddish-brown hair covered his eyes, and he snored a little bit.

I, on the other hand, am much more of a writer. All aspects of writing have intrigued me deeply; descriptions, plots, characters, one only has to name it. I suppose it will come in handy as I jot down this autobiography of our adventures in the middle of a split organization.

I must leave this entry, as I see that K is beginning to stir. I will continue as soon as I can.


	2. Caligari Carnival: The Aftermath

My last entry was incredibly short, but I only had little time to write of the events that night. Perhaps I will ask my brother for more details of what was said, but for now I will be content with retelling the events of the past week and some more information about what has been a crucial moment in our lives. My brother and I have been through tough times. After the death of our parents we didn't know what to do or how to handle it. All we had was each other, and a few old letters from our parents. We loved them very much, although it is not enough to say just that day after day after day. But enough about the past, for it is too recent to dig up and too late to change.

The day after my last entry was perhaps the most intriguing so far, because we had to leave as soon as we had all awoken. K said it was too dangerous to stay in one place too long. One of the others could find us if we became lazy. By others I believe she was referring to Count Olaf, the man who had caused irreparable damage and despair by breaking families apart. As far as Jake and I knew, it was his fault for our parents' untimely demise. So, as we gathered up our small tent and limited amount of supplies to set off to a new place, I believed that it would be my mission -as it was the Snickets- to bring Olaf to justice.

We gathered into a train just before it was set to depart. Though that last night had been a perfect time to ask K anything I wanted to know; I had been silent most of the time. It was as if this was all too surreal, and it seemed that -when those words turned into sentences and those sentences turned into conversations- that those conversations sparked and became the start of a new life. This new life was full of mysteries, such as what V.F.D. stood for (even though I was already considered a 'volunteer' of the organization), why Olaf became a traitor, or what lied in store for the siblings like my brother and me. However, I knew that as we were 'taken away' by K and told of these new findings that there was no turning back. There was no jumping from the train compartment where we sat quietly. There was no exiting the taxi as we all huddled into our trench coats so that no one could see our faces. There wasn't even a remote thought of abandoning K or my brother as we stared at the ashen remains of the Caligari Carnival in the Hinterlands.

The Hinterlands were known for a spectacular sunset. We were just in time to view it as the taxi driver drove off after saying "The World Is Quiet Here," to K. I could see the blue skies give way to the purple and red and orange. The colors blended into each other in the oddest, but somehow attractive display that took my breath away. I noticed that I seemed to be the only one to stare at it as the taxi grew smaller and smaller. I found out why when I turned to see what Jake and K had already set their gazes on.

If one has ever wondered what the aftermath of fire looked like, one only needed to stare upon that awful sight in the Hinterlands. Such a vast area was burned away that it was completely unrecognizable from the carnival it was once supposed to be. K's mission appointed to her by her brother, she called him 'L ', was to find what she could and write facts in her commonplace book. She gave us a weak smile, telling us that she was glad that she had some company to help her finish up sooner. I suppose that she's been alone for quite some time now before she recruited us. We all turned back towards the charred earth and began to fumble through piles of ashes and melted objects. I watched as Jake coughed from inhaling some of the kicked up ashes, and as K was on the verge of tears as she tried to examine what may have been a tent before it was completely demolished. I decided to check around the largest pile of debris.

The piles made two large humps that looked somewhat like a roller coaster going up and down. I didn't know how right I had been with that observation. While I was heading closer to see if there was anything at all that survived I almost tripped into a deep pit. As I stared down into it, I screamed.

For one whose life was altered by fire, I never even imagined to see this image. It still haunts me, and I fear it will never leave me. Not even as I finish this entry and shut my eyes, for the image will play over and over on my closed eyelids like it was a movie. It was a sight of pure malevolence. All that was left was bones, but they were still intact to show the shape of what had been burned _alive. _It was a quadraped of some kind, looking somewhat like a lion or tiger. The mouth of the creature was open wide, almost as if it was screaming in pain like a human would. Other skeletons like this one were scattered in this pit, along with the bones of humans. From the way the human bones were strewn across the whole perimeter, I could tell that they had not suffered death due to the fire. One could only guess the fate that these souls were subjected to, and it was not something that I wished to dwell on.

My scream brought K and Jake to see the awful pit. Their reactions were quite similar, but K's face looked as if she knew some of these victims personally. I was sure it had to be the lions, because she did not seem the type to know who a person was just by looking at their broken and burnt bones that were no where near each other. It seemed rather odd is all I can say. Jake just stared blankly, and I had a feeling he was going back to the moment when we found our parents had been killed. He had seen them on that day, and I remember as I watched him leave the obliterated remains of our home that look in his dark brown eyes. His eyes looked almost identical to the way they had been on that day, except for one thing: I could see the piercing hatred for what had been done in the Hinterlands. It was the knowledge that someone actually had done this on purpose. The knowledge that some sick _bastard_ decided that fire was the answer to his problems and that this person would ultimately do this again. Unless he was stopped. He had to be stopped.

I have very little time to write much else, but I will say that we are now on our way through a passage to meet at the last safe place. K says that she must drop us there before the actual meeting, for she has some other business to take care of. Knowing that she will not be part of our company for awhile makes me nervous. I have a feeling something terrible might happen to her, or that she might be arrested for some reason. Perhaps it is not best to think this way, she needs support for this crucial time at hand.

Oh, and before I forget, K mentioned something called a 'sugar bowl'. I have a feeling that it is the equivalent of the Holy Grail in our adventure. One can only hope that one of the good volunteers finds it. Maybe the Baudelaires might...

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**Author's Note: **_Hello there. This is my second attempt at a 'Series of Unfortunate Events' fic. The last one was complete trash. Anyway, reviews would be good, and make sure to let others out there know about this fic._

_Check out Etsu's stories, she's on my favorite author's list. Her writing is very good, as is her plots. _


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